Hall wasn't close to being sacked. A strength of his is he is quick to release the ball, he doesn't dance around looking for a receiver, he doesn't have to. I admire Austin Collie being able to come back and play solid after his game last week. As far as comparing to BYU's best offenses, Marc Wilson had an excellent one in 79, winning each game easily except for the last due to self destructing with turnovers. Steve Young's last year, Jim McMahon's Jr year, Steve Sarkisian's Sr year and Doman's Sr year were all great years. Doman and Staley were undefeated together in Crowton's first year, BYU losing only when Staley was injured.

That was an historic win. I'm glad I was there to see it. I've been watching BYU football since Gary Sheide and this may be the best Cougar offense ever.

The offense is truly a defensive coordinator's worst nightmare. And the defense improved by leaps and bounds over last week. This team could be something very special. Let's all enjoy this.

Let's not jump on the Heisman band wagon just yet. It is a long season, and this is a TEAM EFFORT, and every member of that TEAM knows it, especially Max Hall! One game does not make a season and everyone needs to remember that, UNLV beat Arizona State, TCU is unbeaten too, and then we have UTAH (You know that team which has the coach who will sucker punch you when your down with a fake punt or on-side kick!). It is a long season, lets do what Bronco wants the Cougars to do, STAY FOCUSED! Don't do anything to help knock them off course, STAY FOCUSED or you will be disappointed! One game at a time, one half at a time, one quarter at a time, one first down at a time, one play at a time. We got lucky in the early going, could have easily had 3 turn overs, but it seems everyone has forgotten how close we came to those! Do what the players do, remember, there is room for improvement, and their were some mistakes! We just caught every break a team could get and played really well!

With all the other MWC victories over Pac-10 and other opponents, Hall probably won't even win the offensive player of the week this time. BYU's and Utah's wins pale by comparison to the upsets pulled by UNM and UNLV over the Arizona schools and the TCU victory over Stanford. Harmon's prognostication about the possibilities for this weekend has shown some real insight and never have MWC teams come through like this.

This offensive line is inspiring. They run block, pass protect, and pick up blitzes really well. They should only get better as the season goes on, too. Sad that they almost all are seniors.

Geez CougarKeith, relax a little bit. I agree with your team comments but do you really think the fans will have anything to do with the team's success by being as focused as the team? How does that work? What could I, as a fan, possibly do to help knock the team off course?

The fact is BYU didn't have any early turnovers. They "caught every break a team could get" by forcing turnovers. They played exceptionally well.

Oh, and please learn to spell and then practice doing so. You need to perform at a higher level the next time you post to a D-News blog.

I am willing to bet big dollars that BYU football players read the Dnews and our comments. When we as fans get all excited about winning the championship I bet it helps get the players minds in the clouds. When we as fans say ignore the polls, ignore TCU, Utah, UNLV, PAC-10, BCS, etc and stay focused on one team - Wyoming. We are simply reaffirming what Mendenhall is saying.

The Cougar Nation needs to take this whole thing one game at a time.

Some commentators were talking about Hall being in the mix for Heisman. In a way, who cares. Play the game right and those kinds of things will take care of themselves. I would rather see hall win the Davey O'Brien award for best quarterback. The Heisman is quite political while the O'Brien is really about performance.

In any case, what a fun game! Now to trounce Wyoming.

And what about the MWC?! Holy cow was yesterday a day of fear for the PAC-10. I doubt they will schedule us too many times in the future.

Go BYU!

This is THE best offense EVER at BYU.

Against UCLA, the defense rose to the level of play as the offense. Play like this the rest of the season, and even the ESPN pundits will have to start giving BYU the RESPECT it deserves.

OFFFENSE wins GAMES. DEFENSE wins CHAMPIONSHIPS.

THE MVP(s) OF THE GAME? BYU's coaching staff!!!

Wow! Keep rolling cougs!

I love BYU but keep this in perspective. That was, possibly, the best game BYU has ever played--especially against a known football power. It reminded me a bit of the Wyoming game two years ago? Everything went right for one team and everything went wrong for the other.

UCLA is not a bad as they looked. Nor are they as good as they looked against Tennessee the second half.

Likewise, BYU is not as bad as they looked in the third quarter against N. Iowa nor are they invincible like they seemed to be against UCLA.

They caught lightning in a bottle. I enjoyed every minute of it. Now I am on to the next game against Wyoming. No lapses. Let's see how good this team really is.

Great win for the team and Max Hall. Keep on doin' it.

Fui said earlier in the week (not reported in the media, btw) that the BYU team was upset that their win over Washington didn't get more respect last week. This was a statement game for the Cougars.

They finally played a game like BYU fans have been expecting since spring ball.

BYU played like a talented team that was out to prove the naysayers wrong. They did just that.

Congrats Cougs on a signature win. Now keep it going!

One game and we're calling this the best BYU offense ever. Correct me if I'm wrong, but in 3 games this season the Cougars have only showed up once. We were favored in all three games. Let's see what happens with the TCU and Utah games before we go all crazy about one great game.

We witnessed possibly the most complete and dominating game BYU has ever played yesterday. Amazing!! I loved every minute of it.

The BYU coaching staff clearly spent some quality time in the off season planning for this game while it looked like the UCLA coaches just assumed that they'd come in an trounce a team from the "weak" MWC. When are people going to stop judging a team by the conference that it belongs to?

This team really is that good. Will that translate into an undefeated season? Perhaps; we'll have to see. There's still a lot of football to play, but this team is a lot of fun to watch.

59-0!!

Congrats to all the other MWC team who took it to the Pac-10 yesterday.

One game at a time....Bronco is good at this. Just keep focusing on one @ a time...
MWC teams had a great weekend.

I love how everyone is so jacked up over the MWC going 4-0 this weekend over the Pac-10. Great point CougarKeith... lets not forget that BYU has to play these MWC teams. Wouldn't it be great if BYU has a couple conference losses?

And yes, the Cougars Fans are jeopardizing/ruining the program... Cougarkeith nailed it!

I am curious, if one current BYU football player reads these blogs about them will you just say that yes I am on the team. Personally I really doubt that BYU players even care about what people are saying here, just curious...anyone? hello?

BYU hasn't had an offense this potent since Crowton's first year when he had a two-headed RB combo in Staley and McDonald-Ashford (at least for the first half of the year). Then, score got close when BYU lost McDonald-Ashford to injury, then Luke to injury.

Let's hope our key players can stay healthy this year. If so, I'd expect blowouts to be fairly common, even against the likes of TCU and Air Force. It'd be sweet if BYU and Utah could meet both undefeated and highly ranked. What a game that would be (BYU victorious, of course).

Its not only a little early, its WAY to early to be calling this one of the best BYU offense's ever. One game does NOT put them in this class. It is, however, one of the best games that BYU has ever played. The Perfect Storm comment was perfect to sum up this 59-0 win.

I would guess the BYU players read these blogs, at least some of them. I would also guess you will never see a comment from one of them, for two reasons: 1. they are too smart for that; and 2. their coaches have probably made it clear that's not allowed.

BYU's Defense has always been the whipping boy for critical fans....myself included....especially in days past.... and yes this offense is showing signs of a special aura,..... but, in their defense Dick, I think you really slighted the defense as well as the special teams in this article. Every one of those UCLA fumbles were resoundingly forced by the defense. Whether or not they were inflamed by comments from people like Craig James or Lou Holtz....no one can say for sure. It really doesn't matter. These guys went out there and did everything imaginable in order to get the ball back into the offenses hands. This is one historic game that both units equally contributed to.

I thought these BCS schools are supposed to be su much deeper that the other schools.

A few injuries should not have matter much.

Maybe theee BCS schools are not as deep as some like to think.

Hall is a team player. He was cool with coming out of the game and doing what's best for his team. Had he stayed in he could have EASILY thrown for over 400 yards and 2 or 3 more socres.

Maybe it's time for some more appropriate accolades for Robert Anae. He sure took it in the shorts for one play in the LV Bowl (a game which the Cougars won). As good as Hall and company were Saturday, the offensive coordinator had a lot to do with the team's successes.

Great game, but I wonder how it would have gone if Unga didn't follow the play and recover that Collie fumble during the first drive. That would have been a huge let down (especially with the fumbles in the first 2 games). O-line looks great, although I'm a little afraid of a blitzing team. Unga doesn't always block well, and the last thing BYU needs is Hall out. A few areas to work on, but they're looking good. One game at a time Cougs!

Bronco has said several times that he has told his players to avoid reading anything about the team in the media. Now realistically, I'm sure that some of them read here and there, but do we honestly think that they read through all of the garbage comments that can pop up on these comment boards??? They have much better things to do. Like win. And win big.

Dick, recall that the next game after Marc Wilson's record 7 TD's passes in his first start at CSU, (after Giff Nelson went down in a loss to Oregon State the week before) BYU played Wyoming in Laramie, with Marc tossing almost as many INT's as he did TD's the week before in a 10-6 win.
Speaking of that loss to OSU, the Beavers were found in violation of eligibility rules. As a result they were forced to forfeit their wins for that year. However BYU has never changed the records to reflect the forfeit. Hence historically BYU should have one less loss and one more win. It has bugged me now for 30 years. Tom, change the record books to reflect a BYU win 1-0 over Oregon State.

Agree it was one of the best games ever...but we are not 'atop the Pac-10'. We barely squeaked by one of the middle or lower ranked PAC 10 teams in Seattle then blew another similar one out at our home field. If we had to play these teams every single week, including 5 away games, we would be lucky with this team to come out number 2 next to USC. However, I would say, this is the most likely BYU team to go that far vs. the PAC 10.

We still have a long way to go to do what NO BYU TEAM HAS EVER DONE: go undefeated AND beat a top ten BCS team in a Jan. bowl game. Don't forget how UTEP tripped up a very good 1985 team. We have a long ways to go...

It was a GREAT win Saturday. BYU showed what it can do if it gets on a roll. UCLA is down, but BYU still dominated in a way rarely seen against the Pac-10.

But before we go crowning BYU national champions AGAIN, we need to realize there are some pretty amazing teams out there right now. USC looks scary, and their defense is unreal. Penn State has rolled over every team they played. Oklahoma is dominating teams on offense and defense. Missouri and Chase Daniels are running track meets, even though their defense is a bit suspect. Florida continues to roll along, and Tebow is amazing at running Urban's spread. Georgia is good but they will falter down the line. Wisconsin and the Big-10 are overrated, other than Penn State.

So where does BYU belong? Right about where they are, and as other teams continue to lose, BYU will continue to move up, one step at a time, as long as they take care of business. Just play the game, and your harvest will be the result of your efforts.

GO COUGARS!

I know a couple of the players (one who plays on special teams is a neighbor) and they both are very good to avoid talking about football predictions and participating in the ballyhoo that is the media. My neighbor has respectfully declined engaging in too much "talk," often walking away from a group of us that are discussing football, and I think this is because the coaching staff has asked them to avoid it so as to keep focus. Now some players undoubtedly may read these articles but I am certain many more understand why they have been asked not to, and are obedient.

The difference between the Washington Game and the UCLA game? Simple...Collie dropped 4 passes against Washington. Passes he never drops. Even Collie told Hall that he was back for UCLA after time to shake off the dust less practice due to the injury. If Collie had caught those 4 passes the Washington game would not have been close and the Washington players, instead of thinking they had a chance to win in the 4th would only have been playing to end the game. The score would have been BYU 42, Washington 14. BYU needs to dominate Wyoming this week. They need 50 points and Hall out by the middle of the 3rd Quarter again. They need to do the same thing to every game but TCU and Utah. If BYU gets out of there with 1 point wins it will be lucky and enough. To beat all other Mountain teams by 35 will be VERY difficult but that is what they need to do. Simple wins are not enough. Not with East Carolina breathing down their necks. Congratulations to Utah, TCU and especially UNLV and New Mexico. I cheer for the Mountain. Every team.

All of your observations about Washington are correct, plus the uncalled penalties against UW. Look at the replay of Unga before he fumbled and the obvious face mask. There was lots of offensive holding against the Huskies linemen that was not called. BYU won despite an average game and bad officiating. Otherwise, you're looking at a 2 TD spread.

REF: wse
You are right....I've been and will remain a long time Chow fan but I've harped about that very same take a knee play and now, after the game this past weekend I must concede that coach Anae is making a believer out of me. I can't explain what happened to Norm's play line, but I'm not going to worry about it. It's early in the season and I'm sure we'll eventually see more of what we usually see from Norm Chow. Any team in the PAC 10 including USC who thinks otherwise just has no concept of what the man can do even with an injured team like UCLA. I can guarantee that Steve Sarkisian is one person who will not underestimate the Chow factor.

REF: S J Bobkins

That's funny that you should bring that game up. ...YEAP THEY WERE IN VIOLATION OF A LOT OF THINGS...

Those Beavers were "VIOLATING" every part of Gifford's body. They were kicking, biting, scratching, poking him in the eyes...it was the only way they could stop him. Every time they could get their hands on him.... WHICH WASN'T THAT MANY..... and wrestle him down it was a pile on.... late hits all over the place......and guess who were the "BLIND OFFICIALS" not making the calls???
..................Ring a Bell???..................

Of Course nobody had yet heard of Lou Holtz either in those days and not much else about him until his last year at Minnisota when he abandoned them during an undefeated string to take over Notre Dame with two or three games left in the season .... Craig James wouldn't yet be talked about along with Eric Dickerson as " The Great SMU running back combo" and the Hail Mary was only associated with teams like Navy and Notre Dame and not Boston College.

...Judging by how things were then and how they are now....I'd say that BYU has gained quite a bit of respect.......

Steve Sarkisian will become the next USC head coach, once Petie decides to step down. I'm sure he has alot of respect for Norm Chow, but I doubt he is too worried about losing to a beat up UCLA team. USC has enough talent to play with some NFL teams.